Politics Archives

Friday

15 Mar 2024

It’s time to talk about your pension

32 min listen

When it comes to retirement, working out how much you will need to set aside can seem like a monumental task. The average person has between 8 to 10 jobs over their lifetime. People are living longer – with the median retirement age at 65 and life expectancy at 80. What should people think about when planning for their pension? And what challenges do people face? Women are the most likely to suffer from pension inequality, with single women being the poorest of all pensioners. Almost a fifth of private sector employees do not do any pension saving, and a third of people expect to retire with only a state

Nigel Jones

The enduring lesson of Julius Caesar’s assassination

In Rome today a group of ancient history enthusiasts will drape themselves in togas and re-enact that most infamous act of political murder: the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March in 44BC. The re-enactors will be able to do their anniversary deed on the actual site of the assassination, now a sunken square called the Largo Torre di Argentina. It has just been refurbished and opened as a major new archaeological site in a renovation financed by the Bulgari jewellery company. Rome’s storied civilisation was born in a torrent of blood Since it was first excavated by Mussolini’s Fascist regime in the 1930s, the site has been somewhat

Thursday

14 Mar 2024

Steerpike

Could Starmer really become the UK’s ‘most unpopular leader’?

The Tory party hasn’t had the best week, what with one of their MPs defecting and their biggest donor embroiled in a racism row. But if Conservative politicians were looking for somewhere to go in Westminster this evening to lift their spirits, Mr S would not have recommended J. L. Partners’ ‘Election 2024’ event. Organised in word clouds and colourful charts, polling by the firm dubbed Rishi Sunak ‘weak’, showed the public want more ‘honesty’ in politics and revealed that a not insignificant proportion of 2019 Tory voters would rather, um, Martin Lewis the money-saving expert as their PM. It’s all a rather poor indictment of the Tories’ track record as

Max Jeffery

Will Gove’s extremism definition worsen Tory divides?

11 min listen

Michael Gove has unveiled the government’s new legal definition of extremism, which will decide whether organisations can receive government money. Conservative MPs, and three former Conservative home secretaries, have said doing would be a mistake. Is Gove doing more harm than good? Max Jeffery speaks to Katy Balls and Paul Goodman, former editor of Conservative Home.

Lara Prendergast

Will the Red Wall revolt split the right?

48 min listen

On the podcast this week: is Rishi ready for a Red Wall rebellion? Lee Anderson’s defection to Reform is an indication of the final collapse of the Tories’ 2019 electoral coalition and the new split in the right, writes Katy Balls in her cover story. For the first time in many years the Tories are polling below 25 per cent. Reform is at 15 per cent. The hope in Reform now is that Anderson attracts so much publicity from the right and the left that he will bring the party name recognition and electoral cut-through. Leader of Reform UK Richard Tice joins Katy on the podcast to discuss. (02:23) Then:

Steerpike

Matheson breached code of conduct over iPad scandal

Back to the curious case of Michael Matheson and his £11,000 iPad bill. Despite desperate attempts by the former health secretary to stall the publication of a report into his behaviour — after Matheson tried to lump taxpayers with his ruinous roaming charges — the verdict is in. It has now been revealed that the disgraced ex-minister did indeed breach the MSP code of conduct. Matheson’s rule-breaking charges come after he was deemed to fall short on parliamentary standards and for improper — to put it mildly — use of expenses. The investigation results, released today by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), come ahead of the publication of the

Ian Acheson

Have the Tories finally woken up to the extremism problem?

Michael Gove has a reliable track record for sounding the alarm on ideological hatred, so are his latest proposals on redefining extremism a cure for what ails us? The communities secretary has unveiled a plan to broaden the definition of extremism. The new official meaning aims to ban those with a ‘violent or intolerant’ ideology from government links and funds. Gove named several organisations that could fall foul of the new definition: the Muslim Association of Britain, Mend and Cage were groups, he told the Commons, that could be held to account. Predictably enough, critics have taken to the air to condemn this crackdown, seeing it variously as unnecessary, unwieldy

Iain Macwhirter

The scandal of Scotland’s illiberal hate crime law

From next month in Scotland you’ll be able to drop into a sex shop, make an anonymous accusation of hate crime against someone you dislike and potentially see your bete noir locked up. You think I’m joking – that this is an April Fool come early. I only wish it was. In two weeks’ time, this will be the law of the land in Scotland under the SNP’s iniquitous Hate Crime Act which makes ‘stirring up hatred’ a criminal offence punishable by 7 years in jail. The sex shop in question is an LGBTQ-friendly establishment in Glasgow’s Merchant City. It is a ‘third-party reporting centre’ set up by Police Scotland to make it

Katy Balls

Tory MPs worry Michael Gove’s extremism crackdown could backfire

Michael Gove’s extremism crackdown has been the talk of the Tory party for weeks now, with three former Conservative home secretaries warning ahead of today’s official announcement not to use the issue to score political points. Gove, the Levelling Up secretary, has drawn up a new definition of non-violent extremism which, he told the Commons this lunchtime, would include ‘the promotion or advancement of…violence, hatred or intolerance’. Gove argued that the new definition is ‘more precise and rigorous’ than what came before. The announcement follows Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street speech after George Galloway’s Rochdale by-election, in which the Prime Minister warned that Islamist extremists and far-right groups are ‘spreading a

Steerpike

Abbott blasts ‘abusive’ Labour party officials in racism row

The Tories have had a tough week trying to find their line on comments made by their biggest donor Frank Hester. But the Labour party hasn’t escaped unscathed either. Independent MP Diane Abbott has taken her side of the story to the papers — and delivered a blistering attack on her former party. Abbott revealed in the Guardian that she had been planning to ask the Prime Minister about Frank Hester’s remarks in the Commons. But despite attempting to get the Speaker’s attention almost, er, 50 times, Abbott wasn’t successful. Turning to the column pages, she described how she had been ‘upset but not surprised’ by Hester’s comments and slammed

Ross Clark

How WFH engineers caused an air traffic control meltdown

How lovely that engineers working for National Air Traffic Services (Nats) can work from home rather than having to slog it in to the company’s headquarters at Swanwick, Hampshire. Lovely, that is, for the engineers rather than for air passengers. A report by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has revealed the reason behind the meltdown in air traffic control which led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights last August Bank Holiday, inconveniencing millions of passengers. The system need to be reset by a ‘level 2’ engineer, but none were actually working in the office that day, so one had to be called in – which took 90 minutes. Such is

Steerpike

Gove in extremism muddle over Tory donor

Back to Westminster, where Michael Gove has revealed his brand new definition of extremism today in a bid to push back against fanaticism. The communities secretary has offered assurances that there will be a high bar for defining a group as extremist, and that a ‘rigorous process’ would be followed when identifying group of concern. Affected organisations will miss out on government grants and ministerial meetings. Critics have suggested the broader definition could have a ‘chilling effect’ on free speech however and some rather, er, unusual alliances have formed in protest at the move. The communities secretary found himself in a tight spot this morning on the morning round. The

John Ferry

Humza Yousaf fails to make the economic case for independence

Try to start a speech with a joke to warm up your audience. That’s always good advice. And so Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, began his speech at the London School of Economics this week by light-heartedly pointing out that the LSE might be a world-class institution but it only came fourth in a recent newspaper ranking of Britain’s best universities. Scotland’s St Andrews University, on the other hand, he said, came out in first place. He went on to say he was reminded of a ‘famous saying’ that there are two types of people in this world: ‘Scots, and those who want to be Scottish’. I’m guessing you’ve never heard of

Peter Mandelson

Could Cameron take over the Tories?

My weekly appearance on the podcast How to Win an Election, which I do with Danny Finkelstein, Polly Mackenzie and Matt Chorley, had succeeded in avoiding embarrassment until last week when, in response to a listener’s question about politicians’ appearance, I was momentarily stuck for something to say about Keir Starmer. I should have remained stuck. Instead, what came out of my mouth, after laying into Rishi Sunak’s skinny suits and narrow ties, was the suggestion that Keir could do with losing a few pounds. Heaven knows why it attracted such attention. Labour’s Wes Streeting was quick off the mark (he is so effective) with his condemnation of my ‘fat-shaming’

Rod Liddle

Does anyone actually like Reform?

‘Alastair, it’s been absolutely fascinating talking to you. Thank you for your honesty.’ And thus ended Kirsty Young’s interview with Alastair Campbell, broadcast to the nation on BBC Radio 4 on Monday. This was part of the series Young Again, in which Kirsty interviews left-of-centre people, agrees with them and makes them feel better about themselves. Reform’s obvious problem is that it cannot appeal simultaneously to its divided voter base It is difficult to know how she could have been more fawning in this particular episode, short of performing what the Daily Telegraph used to refer to as ‘an obscene act’ on the psychotic former spin doctor. Later, Campbell tweeted

Katy Balls

Will the Red Wall revolt split the right?

On Monday night Tories gathered on the Terrace Pavilion at parliament for the 1922 Committee’s spring reception, to which every backbencher was invited. The crowd was small, largely made up of Rishi Sunak loyalists eating steak and chips and drinking sparkling wine. The Prime Minister chose not to give opening remarks and instead chatted to the MPs. According to one attendee, the atmosphere was jovial. But no one dared bring up the elephant in the room: Lee Anderson’s defection. Just hours earlier, the former deputy Tory party chairman held a press conference to announce he was defecting to the Reform party. Even before he started to speak, his former Tory

Wednesday

13 Mar 2024

Fraser Nelson

A free press means freedom from government

In a landmark ruling for press freedom in Britain, the government has today moved to outlaw ownership of national newspapers and magazines by foreign powers. The text of the proposed new law has not been published but it would appear to rule out any Emirati ownership – in whole or in part – of the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator. The move came after backbenchers in the Lords and Commons gathered in such numbers that, had the government not acted, Parliament would have done. It’s a case study of democracy at work. Tina Stowell, a backbench Tory peer, organised an amendment in the House of Lords to be voted on today

Steerpike

Watch: Drakeford blasts ‘absent’ Boris at fiery Covid Inquiry hearing

Back to the UK Covid Inquiry and today it’s in Cardiff, where Welsh Prime Minister Mark Drakeford has given some rather, er, colourful evidence. After watching Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Nicola Sturgeon being grilled in previous hearings, Drakeford had some idea at least of what to expect and prepare — and he’s certainly not left the media with a shortage of sound bites. The Welsh PM isn’t holding back. He slammed the former PM for trying to ‘minimise the seriousness’ of Covid, Hancock was described as getting ‘the most basic things wrong’ and Cummings criticised for saying ‘no’ to a mass gathering ban. Drakeford described Boris’s refusal to meet the

Lloyd Evans

Rishi came under attack from all sides at PMQs

The plot to shoot Diane Abbot dominated PMQs. The Tory donor, Frank Hester, reportedly said that the MP for Hackney North inspired violent thoughts in him, and made him want to ‘hate all black women.’ Sir Keir Starmer asked if Rishi Sunak was happy to be bankrolled by someone who harboured fantasies about gunshots and bullet wounds. Rishi replied in kind and trotted out insults like ‘scum’ and ‘Nazi’ that have been hurled at the Tories by Labour members over the years. He pleaded for tolerance towards his financial backer. ‘He has rightly apologised. And that remorse should be accepted.’ Rishi could perhaps offer Hester a jaunt in a navy Chinook

Max Jeffery

Will the Tories return Hester’s £10 million?

11 min listen

At Prime Minister’s Questions today Rishi Sunak refused to commit to returning the £10 million donor Frank Hester gave to the Conservative party. Hester allegedly said that Diane Abbott made him ‘hate all black women.’ Sunak now says that Hester’s alleged comments were ‘racist’ and ‘wrong’, after a spokesperson initially only described them as ‘unacceptable’. Will the Tory position change again? Max Jeffery speaks to Katy Balls and the Financial Times’s Stephen Bush.